Switzerland, April 28-May 3, 2009

Prologue - April 28: Lausanne (ITT), 3.1km

Rabon surprises in demanding prologue

Team Columbia-Highroad's Frantisek Rabon hammered his way to the prologue victory,
besting Francaise des Jeux's Sandy Casar and Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne)
on the 3.1 kilometre route. The Czech time trial champion clocked a 3:44.56
on the course to surprise Swiss time trial champion Fabian Cancellara (Saxo
Bank), and sprinter Mark Cavendish (Columbia-Highroad) who had been heavily
favoured to win.

"To be honest I was targeting the top ten, nothing better," Rabon said afterwards. "When I got the fastest time, I sat down and wondered which of the last guys off, maybe [Fabian] Cancellara, maybe [teammate] Mark [Cavendish], would beat it. This race is very much for the guys who are preparing for the Tour of Italy, and I thought one of them would have a better chance."

"But it didn't happen," continued Rabon. "Maybe I should have been more hopeful because I've had some good results in time trials this year, a win in Murcia and a third place in time trials both in the Criterium International and in the Circuite de la Sarthe.

"Even though I pulled out of Liège-Bastogne-Liège and was a bit disappointed about that, I knew my condition had been good before then. The course itself on Tuesday was supposed to be completely flat, but in fact it was trickier than that, with one kilometre flat, one kilometre downhill, and one up! But I went full gas anyway, there was no point in doing anything else because it was so short, and it worked out."

"We'll see what happens next. I've ridden Romandie two times before and I know the climbs a bit. In any case I'll go all out and try to defend my lead for as long as possible and the best I possibly can."

Rabon holds a few slim seconds lead in the overall classification over Casar, Valverde, and sprinter Tyler Farrar (Garmin-Slipstream), who seems well-positioned to contend for the leader's jersey through sprint bonuses on Wednesday's stage.

After a dreary morning, the skies cleared and the roads dried for the start of the 63rd Tour de Romandie. The early best time was set by Finland's time trial champion Jussi Veikkanen (Francaise des Jeux). He was overtaken by Astana's Maxim Iglinskiy by just fractions of a second.

Cavendish came through a dozen seconds off the pace, and instead it was his teammate Rabon who scorched the circuit to take the first leader's jersey. Rabon's fellow Czech Roman Kreuziger (Liquigas) slipped into fifth place behind Farrar.

Fabian Cancellara, the day's penultimate rider, could not touch the performance of Rabon and finished over seven seconds in arrears.

Wednesday's 176.2km stage from Montreaux to Fribourg will feature three leg-sapping climbs including the category one Col de Jaun at the midpoint of the day.